A few weeks back it was “A DISTANT MIRAGE” and this week it’s “NAKSHATRA” which can be equally termed as a BIG TORTURE in return of your hard earned money and irreversible time. Being a childish and amateur kind of attempt right from the word “GO”, the film can be easily included in the list of movies which transform an exciting job of a reviewer into a highly tedious one.

Shot and publicized as a decent budget flick, NAKSHATRA falters in all of its major departments including its direction, script, music and acting. In attempt of making an interesting heist thriller, both the writers and their director take huge liberties in their completely unimpressive execution of the plot. The major sequences of the grand exhibition and the theft remain the weakest link in the movie since the director, Mohan Savalkar, doesn’t even care to reveal how the valuable asset is stolen and how exactly its hidden security code is broken by the hero who happens to be a script writer. Moreover he goes on to show the government official sites being hacked from an Internet-Cafe by the leading lady as if it’s quite an easy task equivalent to buy an ice-cream stick from the roadside.

Though the basic story-idea of a film-writer giving the whole plan of the robbery in his script sounds interesting and exciting. But in absence of any kind of thrill or adventure element in its treatment, NAKSHATRA remains one of those below average movies attempted by some new entrants in the business loaded with huge money bags but having no expertise in the medium.

In fact these kinds of films make me wonder that if the producers of such ventures are really so much talented and intelligent in their own business streams then why they hire this kind of an amateurish team to churn out such silly and childish project spending all that money just for nothing. Or maybe such films are only made to register some heavy losses in the otherwise profitable books of the rich and wealthy.

Anyway, NAKSHATRA has only two merits to mention here, which unfortunately still cannot save the film from sinking. One is its good promotional poster designed well and the other is its one chase sequence which is both shot and enacted in a fine way (which also displays the hidden sparks in its director creative ability). Otherwise the movie has nothing in it in the name of entertainment, acting or music, (despite the presence of Anupam Kher) which should compel you to watch it in theaters in this calm weekend before Diwali. So better spend your time in planning the coming festive weekend more explosively.

In a recent interview by a Bollywood Portal, the interviewer read a twitter comment to Ram Gopal Verma which said “This one is going to be a Kick-ass Movie, just hoping RGV doesn’t screw it up with bad background music, weird camera angles and over dramatic acting”. After listening to it calmly, RGV replied, “This film has more weird angles, more loud background score and much more louder acting than any of my films, so ask him to better stay away”.

The above lines said by the director himself perfectly describe his latest project, which unarguably can be crowned as The MOST VOILENT FILM ever made in Bollywood. RAKTA CHARITRA as conveyed by its title is full of bloodshed and man -slaughter throughout its 2 hours of duration which may serve both as a merit as well as a demerit for its various sections of viewers.

To be straight, the movie is A Big No for all the kids and even for the grown-ups having weak hearts. The extremely brutal killings shown freely in the film can really leave some disturbing marks on the innocent psyche of the kids. So the first rule of watching RAKTA CHARITRA is that you should not take your kids along to the theaters (and may be the ladies too).

The second revelation about this first part of RGVs sequel is that it is evidently not everyone’s cup of tea in the literal sense. The viewers, who wish to have a good time and fun in the cinema, may find it unentertaining, meaningless, bloody and too hard hitting. But movie freaks, who are well familiar with the brand RGV and love to see some cunning, strong and realistic kind of cinema told with a fresh narrative, are sure going to love it in one manner or the other.

Returning to the movie itself, it is apparently made on the true story of famous gangster turned politician Paritala Ravi of Andhra Pradesh. Here I would like to add that if everything shown in the film is really true and is not glorified to a large extent, then it is really scary to know that it all actually happened in a city full of living human beings. As a cinematic tale, there is admittedly nothing new in it which you haven’t seen before. It’s once again a pure revenge drama with the background of Underworld Gangs and Political Mafia wherein every character is totally focused on taking his personal revenge from his enemy and nothing else.

Apart from the storyline you may also complain about the similar RGV kind of camera angles, lightings and confrontations scenes in the film, reminding you the ones seen earlier in his SATYA, COMPANY, SARKAR, SARKAR-RAJ and many other underworld movies coming from the RGV factory. And for many the film might be a documentary focusing only on all the hardcore murders coming one after another on the screen without any basic storyline behind them. But still RAKTA CHARITRA works in a particular way for all the RGV fans and for the viewers who are game for something experimental tried by the gutsy director of Indian Film Industry.

Frankly what worked for me in RC is the attitude with which it is made fearlessly by the one & only RGV. The man dares to do what he feels like and with his every new film tries to make his own set of rules about film business. For instance, he simply doesn’t care if his project gets deliberately avoided by groups of college going boys and girls, love couples, and families especially having small kids, even if this takes away a major part of his collections at the box office. He makes what he wishes to make and that too in a style which cannot even be thought by many other glossy film-makers of Bollywood churning out chocolate movies with big stars every year.

Mahesh Bhatt was the one man who used to take up such kind of subjects earlier but then he too always decorated his projects with controversial scenes, loud emotional dramas and hit songs. Today, RGV moves way ahead in that direction with RAKTA CHARITRA and delivers a film which might be unbearable for many having his name written over every frame of the reels till the end.

Using hidden talented actors such as Abhimanyu Singh, Ashwini Kalsekar, Zarina Wahab and Rajendra Gupta, RGV transforms them into believable lively characters with his remarkable vision and skill. Now who could have thought to cast Shatrughan Sinha with a look without his famous moustache? And who could have thought of making a complete film of 4 hours and then releasing it in two parts at a gap of one month?

Only RGV showed these guts but honestly his sequel idea also looks like inspired from Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL series of movies. Tarantino’s world famous classic is also a pure revenge action thriller which was initially made with a duration of 4 hours to do full justice with the script. With this extra length, Tarantino also decided to release it in two parts, but at a gap of 6 months. RGV seems to be following the same idea but the master moves one step ahead than Tarantino when he right away shows the trailer of his IInd part in the end of RAKTA CHARITRA and that too along with the date of its release written of the screen in red. (This he earlier vaguely tried in his AGYAAT too).

So, as a final verdict, I would like to recommend RC to the viewers who wish to see execution more than the content and don’t mind blood thrown all over the screen right from the start. Its strictly for the movie freaks who get excited watching the slow motion sequences of terror accompanied by a haunting background score. And for the ones who get pumped up watching the real action on screen with the voice of “Rakta Charitra – Rakta Charitra” being played in the background constantly.

Moreover, I would like you to watch RAKTA CHARITRA for three names alone and they are Abhimanyu Singh, Shatrughan Sinha and Vivek Oberoi in this particular order. The three excel themselves in the movie undoubtedly, but the surprise element is delivered by Abhimanyu Singh as Bhukha, who will get hatred in return for his role from every single viewer of the movie unconditionally. And that truly would be the real reward for his superb performance filled with terror.

Summing up, with RAKTA CHARITRA, RGV redefines the word REVENGE in BOLLYWOOD and makes all previous movies made on this topic look like dwarfs. It will not get appreciation from all but if you are real movie lover, then you got to see this pure example of a director’s bloody vision of an old story. In clear words, its an RGV movie all the way with his famous attitude of “I WILL DO WHAT I WANT – If you don’t like it then don’t watch it”.

Hi Bobby,
This is Jayesh Adhyaru, a journalist from Ahmedabad. We had chat in your What's Your Raashee Review, you may remember.

In the beginning of Rakht Charitra, it was interesting to see 'All characters in the film are fictitious and any resemblance with reality is purely co-incidence' line, just followed by 'This film is based on true story'.

Another interesting thing was beeping the word "jaati", only when "nichli jaati" was mentioned and exempting "Unchi jaati" without beep! And many other occasions Nichli Jaati word wasn't beeped at all! And Censor Board didn't find violence objectionable, but they had problem with Jaati word!

I had one question, if you know it. Who gave the Voice Over in the whole movie?

Cheeres!
Jayesh.

bobbysing

submitted on
07 November 2010

Hi Jayesh,

Sure I do remember about our chat and thanks for writing in again.

Your observation about the "Jaati" word is great as I also didnt noticed that in such details. But Sorry, I am not aware of the person who gave the VO in the movie. May be he is one of the hidden talents of the RGV camp.

Anyway, It was great to see your comment once again.....and Keep Visiting!

First of all let me clear the buzz of HISSS being a foreign flick. No, its not a HOLLYWOOD film from any angle. Yes, it’s reportedly been directed by a western name, Jennifer Lynch. But the name remains the only foreign touch in an otherwise totally Indian movie, which is more like a B class Bollywood film packaged and promoted well.

Secondly, yes the film is based on a HIT and interesting topic of an Ichhadhari Nagin but the overall result on the screen is not even close to what we have already seen in Reena Roy’s NAGIN (1976) and Sridevi’s NAGINA (1986) or even in its not so successful sequel NIGAHEN (1989). The film is just a collage of various graphical scenes without any good story build up or enjoyable musical soundtrack. Moreover the erratic background score further reduces the impact of its engrossing theme to the least.

Thirdly, if you are expecting a great computer graphics show in the movie displaying a human body’s transformation into and out of a snake, then you are going to get disappointed in that section of the film too. The graphics used in HISSS are not bad but at the same time they also don’t offer anything great or exceptional to enjoy. In fact watching ANACONDA once again would be a far better choice to opt, if you are really interested in watching the big snake movements in front of you.

In the acting arena, I was simply stunned to see two highly talented actors Irrfan Khan and Divya Dutta agreeing to do such strange kind of roles where they simply have nothing to do except showing their known faces on the screen. Especially, Why Irrfan opted for such kind of LOW in his otherwise famous career is simply beyond any logical explanation.

So after pulling down the movie in almost all its departments……what can be a possible merit of watching HISSS? That’s the pleasure of watching the Sky-High Confidence of the girl called Mallika Sherawat. The conviction with which she portrays her role of a Ichhadhari Nagin is indeed commendable even when she is not speaking a single dialogue in the film. And further her amazingly daring GUTS to opt for all those nude body scenes and love-making scene with the snake is undoubtedly applaudable.

Truly speaking, even when the movie was completely a wash out for me in all aspects, still the girl managed to keep me hooked somehow with her unbelievable kind of confidence and a passionate performance. So if you are really interested in watching Mallika in the most daring act of her entire career then HISSS may work for you. Otherwise it would be better to watch the movie only after its DVD release.

Mani Shankar’s “KNOCK OUT”, undoubtedly took its major inspiration from the English movie “PHONE BOOTH” released in the year 2002 and also a bit from our own "A WEDNESDAY" (2008). But surprisingly the poster of the movie too seems to be highly inspired from another famous and controversial Angelina Jolie’s film “A MIGHTY HEART”. Just by looking at both the posters together, the inspiration can be easily pointed out by anyone.

Interestingly both these movies have a common link as IRFAN KHAN, who features in both of them in key roles. So may be while looking at the other movies of the versatile & international actor, Mani Shankar’s creative team got hold of this inspirational source for their publicity material.

Here it is necessary to mention another amusing finding about the inspiration angle mentioned above. Mani Shankar’s KNOCK OUT surely is based upon many similar sequences seen in Joel Schumacher’s PHONE BOOTH.

But PHONE BOOTH itself remains an inspired version of another English flick “LIBERTY STANDS STILL” which ironically also released in 2002 itself, but before “PHONE BOOTH”. So its once again a typical case of getting inspired from another inspired film just like the last instance of Aamir Khan's "GHAJINI".

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